Let's get logistics out of the way first. The show is riding under the new management that righted the ship during the second half of last season. Viewership is at an all-time high and never waned throughout. This is the first season where we know beforehand another one is on the way, even if it hasn't technically been confirmed. And like season 2, season 3 will consist of two eight-episode runs.

Inherently, those parameters will shape what we get possibly more than the comics themselves. We'll have untraditional peaks and valleys in the season's narrative (see Breaking Bad S4 v. S5). There's less pressure on the creative team to feed fans what they want in order to sustain ratings and secure an additional order of episodes. That means showrunner Glen Mazzara should have the freedom to further explore his team's vision, hinted at in the latter half of S2. (He comes from The Shield's coaching tree so to speak, so this is a good thing.)

Now, we all heard the complaints earlier this year. This isn't the first or last show to struggle with the in-between and nail the big moments (see also Sons of Anarchy, 24). However, highlights from the Mazarra half of S2 were so strong you can boil them down to a few words: Carl screws up. Dale. Shane. Goodbye farm. The overall season's highs and lows balanced out. This was a satisfying meal of blood and brains in the end.

But with two seasons in the books to analyze, larger areas of concern surfaced. Mid-season plot building has been slow and tedious. The group remaining at the start of S3 may be 11 strong, but only the show's producers care about the whole lot. (I'll personally take half: Rick, Herschel, Maggie, Glenn, Daryl, and S2 Andrea.) And is it possible to even have a show that combines good suspense (zombies, scary silence, action) with good drama (Rick v. Shane, the pregnancy)? That could be aspiring for too much. Things tend to get complicated when these two desires come into conflict.

No matter how loud the criticism gets, there are enough broad things the series does well to believe momentum will carry through this year. The Walking Dead consistently delivers strong starts and finishes—Rick escaping the hospital, the group navigating the abandoned highway, Barnaggedon. And both seasons also continually re-emphasized the hopelessness of this world—the CDC can't help, loved ones must be put down, everyone is actually a carrier. If you see what critics have been writing about the first two episodes (AMC—I'm still willing to consume your screeners), both trends continue.

We also know we're getting some serious character improvement before one spec of dialogue is heard. There's an increase in the amount of strong, non-white dudes with the entrance of Michonne and the continued, theoretical hardening of Andrea (in the episode one teaser, even T-Dog gets meaningful dialogue for once). And all though we've spent tons of screen time with characters like Hershel's-daughter-whose-name-I'd-have-to-look-up, expect to get invested more in characters like Michonne, The Governor, and Merle despite their limited or nonexistent prior screen time.

The biggest question for this season, though: just how much of the comic will be infused into the show this year? Make no mistake about it, the comics reach some dark areas perhaps never seen on TV when the prison/Woodbury plotlines surface (see the trailer above, both locations are coming). We're talking rape, decapitation, child murders, suicide attempts. The craziest SVU or Oz episodes don't begin to even compare.

Mazzara insisted during the summer that nothing is off the table but things wouldn't get "offensive for the sake of being offensive." He seems to believe TV may have less of a threshold for bleakness than comics do. It's hard to argue against that, as even the most straightforward of car-wreck-ahead tragedies have to provide something to root for (JACK COULD HAVE SURVIVED, DAMMIT).

With all those topics swirling around, S3 of The Walking Dead will be nothing if not interesting. Assuming the show continues its ratings domination, this year could be vital for the overall series. It'll either set the stage and the tone for S4 and beyond, or it'll make AMC regret its verbal commitment while scaring away all but the hardest of hardcore comic followers. That's a crossroads more compelling than, "to ditch or not to ditch our farm." Hopefully the stakes transfer to the screen.

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War Stories | Ultima Online: The virtual ecology

When creating Ultima Online, Richard Garriott had grand dreams. He and Starr Long planned on implementing a virtual ecology into their massively multiplayer online role-playing game. It was an ambitious system, one that would have cows that graze and predators that eat herbivores. However, once the game went live a small problem had arisen...

War Stories | Ultima Online: The virtual ecology

War Stories | Ultima Online: The virtual ecology

When creating Ultima Online, Richard Garriott had grand dreams. He and Starr Long planned on implementing a virtual ecology into their massively multiplayer online role-playing game. It was an ambitious system, one that would have cows that graze and predators that eat herbivores. However, once the game went live a small problem had arisen...

I decided to give up on this show at the end of last season. Too much melodrama, and not enough actual story development. There is just too much good TV out there right now that I decided to cut out all the shows I don't *love*.

Of course I'll probably cave in and give the show another shot because ZOMBIES.

I enjoyed the first two seasons and was pleasantly surprised it didn't turn into a farce. The interpersonal conflicts were realistic and compelling, and the zombie aspects aren't overdone.

I had trouble suspending disbelief with the disease. In particular, it only spreads through direct contact, so the spread of infection should have been easily controllable. I found it hard to imagine that the USA military couldn't massacre a bunch of zombies in time, given a disease whose virulence is less than smallpox.

I agree that the first season is kind of weak on explanations, but you find out later in the second season that most of what the characters think they know about what's causing zombies in the first season is probably wrong.

After watching the first season, I was into the gore (or the incredible makeup artists that made the gore possible) but didn't care too much about the plot. After the second season, I found myself invested in actual characters (and, I'll be honest, I cried after a few episodes).

This show is garbage. The acting is awful, the dialogue makes it worse, the plot is butchered and uneven, and the direction they've picked is too little, too late. With incredible source material to use it's absolutely amazing they could produce such utter shit from it. This show deserves absolutely zero praise because it's done far more wrong than it done right. Entertainment Weekly saying it's the best thriller on TV is both the funniest and saddest thing in that trailer. You can be guaranteed this inter team battle over the prison will be the same stupid shit show that the farm struggle was. Useless dialogue, no plot movement, no character exploration (why is T-dog ignored every episode?), ridiculous tension that doesn't go anywhere or do anything, and Rick's wife is so stupid I wish I could reach through the TV and slap some sense into her. The only reason I can think of that show is still on must be because AMC is making enough money off Breaking Bad. With that and Mad Men, they should shelve this show and spend the money on those two and never look back. TWD was a failure of epic proportions, ruining a great genre with fantastic source material to draw on. Hopefully this show being so bad won't discourage this genre from being on TV in the future.

If you're interested in good zombie fiction, listen to We're Alive, a free podcast on iTunes. Miles better than this, and free to boot.

Heavy obfuscation of spoilers, don't go googling the obfuscation unless you've read the comics. I suspect that people who read the com,ics will get things without trouble.

Having read the comics, I think the upcoming arcs present a lot of possibility for things given everything hat happens in the prison & the character developments, everything that happens as a result of that helicopter shown in the clip, & where things go after that is wrapped up.The fact that the S1 redneck is coming back is also interesting considering the character I suspect he will be merged with didn't really get much detail on him in the comics, & having some more detail on "G..." could be cool to see & give his actions towards rick & the group more reasoning. I also can't wait to see the hat, telephone, & other effects starting to come into play (presumably in season4 since cramming them into S3 would do injustice to everything that came between finding the prison & readers realizing what they were)

i can't watch this series without becoming angry at some point.some good moments, marred with some really bad ones.

favorite moment in season 2, the finale. "who the F was that that just died, was the person ever in the show before now?"

I think that you're tslking about Rick's Partner, He was helping Rick's wife & kid when rick found the group outside of atlanta & was well on his way to developing a relationship with lori since they all thought rick was dead. Either that or you're talking about the kid who was with the guys that had a shootout with rick & company in the bar, but I thought they left him waayyyyy out in BFE with a knife rather than killing him outright

I watched the first few episodes of the first season, but could see what was happening. We were never really told anything. So guy wakes up, and there are zombies everywhere? And we are never actually told what actually happened. It's clear that the character was told what happened (by the black guy he meets when he walks out the hospital), but they never bother to tell any of it to the viewers.

Yes yes yes, audience does not need to be explained everything etc. But damn, to keep everything in the dark? "There are zombies, just accept it. Don't try to figure out what happened, because we ain't telling".

I dunno if they expanded the background more in later episodes, but I never got to watching those.

Lost did this as well. But Lost did it right. It had a story and characters that made you keep on watching it. Except for the latter seasons that is...

I watched the first few episodes of the first season, but could see what was happening. We were never really told anything. So guy wakes up, and there are zombies everywhere? And we are never actually told what actually happened. It's clear that the character was told what happened (by the black guy he meets when he walks out the hospital), but they never bother to tell any of it to the viewers.

Yes yes yes, audience does not need to be explained everything etc. But damn, to keep everything in the dark? "There are zombies, just accept it. Don't try to figure out what happened, because we ain't telling".

I dunno if they expanded the background more in later episodes, but I never got to watching those.

Lost did this as well. But Lost did it right. It had a story and characters that made you keep on watching it. Except for the latter seasons that is...

It was never explained to viewers because it was never explained to Rick & Nobody really knows what happened. Through season1/2 you learn (with rick) that there was a lot of panic & confusion early on & the government was telling everyone to go into the cities where it would be easier to protect them. Lori & his partner (who's name escapes me, Ryan maybe?) tell Rick that they were on one of the last choppers out of town & he was left behind because doctors & the CDC thought it would be the safest thing for him

In short, nobody knows exactly how/why it happened besides the fact that it did. Everyone is already an infected carrier, but it remains dormant until either death or a bite allows it to become active & take over, but rick doesn't learn it till late season1 & the group until the end of S2 when someone is killed without getting bit & comes back as a walker

I watched the first few episodes of the first season, but could see what was happening. We were never really told anything. So guy wakes up, and there are zombies everywhere? And we are never actually told what actually happened. It's clear that the character was told what happened (by the black guy he meets when he walks out the hospital), but they never bother to tell any of it to the viewers.

Yes yes yes, audience does not need to be explained everything etc. But damn, to keep everything in the dark? "There are zombies, just accept it. Don't try to figure out what happened, because we ain't telling".

I dunno if they expanded the background more in later episodes, but I never got to watching those.

Lost did this as well. But Lost did it right. It had a story and characters that made you keep on watching it. Except for the latter seasons that is...

It was never explained to viewers because it was never explained to Rick & Nobody really knows what happened. Through season1/2 you learn (with rick) that there was a lot of panic & confusion early on & the government was telling everyone to go into the cities where it would be easier to protect them. Lori & his partner (who's name escapes me, Ryan maybe?) tell Rick that they were on one of the last choppers out of town & he was left behind because doctors & the CDC thought it would be the safest thing for him

In short, nobody knows exactly how/why it happened besides the fact that it did. Everyone is already an infected carrier, but it remains dormant until either death or a bite allows it to become active & take over, but rick doesn't learn it till late season1 & the group until the end of S2 when someone is killed without getting bit & comes back as a walker

I don't mean explaining what made them zombies etc. I mean explaining what happened while he was unconscious in the hospital.

The biggest complaint I saw on season 2 by everyone, besides the "drama(?)" complaints, is that they stayed on the farm too long. Well, got news for you, they're about to go into a place where they'll be staying for a LONG time. At least they did in the comics.

But then again, they've gone SO far off the original source material, that they shouldn't even call it The Walking Dead anymore. So who knows what they are planning in regards to the Prison. I honestly was entertained by both seasons, even though it really held no surprises except for what happened to Sophia. I usually see these things coming a mile away, but I missed that one.

Again, I was entertained, but I wouldn't call this a great show. It started strong, but really went off the rails pretty quickly. Guess I've been spoiled by Mad Men, Breaking Bad and Homeland in my expectations of dramas now.

As a fan of the comic and the show all I can ask is, have you actually ever watched Oz? Nothing in the comics entire run comes close to the depravity of Oz. The comic, much less the series, is more on par with the darkness of The Road Warrior.

As to the upcoming season, I'm hoping to enjoy more of the divergence from the comic especially Darryl who has brought a great side that was missing from the first few dozen issues of the comic. At the same time I hope they follow the arcs of certain characters as shown in the comics as they are characters I hate lol.

Whatever happens I'm just happy to have more genre television on the air and wished its success rubbed off more ratings-wise on other well done genre shows.

The biggest complaint I saw on season 2 by everyone, besides the "drama(?)" complaints, is that they stayed on the farm too long. Well, got news for you, they're about to go into a place where they'll be staying for a LONG time. At least they did in the comics.

But then again, they've gone SO far off the original source material, that they shouldn't even call it The Walking Dead anymore. So who knows what they are planning in regards to the Prison. I honestly was entertained by both seasons, even though it really held no surprises except for what happened to Sophia. I usually see these things coming a mile away, but I missed that one.

Again, I was entertained, but I wouldn't call this a great show. It started strong, but really went off the rails pretty quickly. Guess I've been spoiled by Mad Men, Breaking Bad and Homeland in my expectations of dramas now.

I don't disagree that shit on the farm was going a bit meh for far too long, I think they were trying to go into some stuff that couldn't have been fit into the comic & got stuck a bit on the Rick/Lori/Shane & hershel<>crap in a place where that sort of character can't really happen. With any luck, the much more interesting & longer lived characters that have personal development happen in the prison will have more interesting impacts next season, plus there is the whole thing with "G...", the helicopter , dale, Glenn, whatshername, Michonne, the black guy whose name escapes me, & the cafeteria folks is much more interesting in general & hopefullt doesn't get mired in things like S2 did

In short, nobody knows exactly how/why it happened besides the fact that it did. Everyone is already an infected carrier, but it remains dormant until either death or a bite allows it to become active & take over, but rick doesn't learn it till late season1 & the group until the end of S2 when someone is killed without getting bit & comes back as a walker

My problem was with the explanation by the CDC doctor what happens when one becomes a walker.

I decided to give up on this show at the end of last season. Too much melodrama, and not enough actual story development. There is just too much good TV out there right now that I decided to cut out all the shows I don't *love*.

Of course I'll probably cave in and give the show another shot because ZOMBIES.

I kinda agree with you about the melodrama, that's part of the reason the second season finished as well as it did

the show needed a better balance...one on side is the struggle against externalities (zombies and people) on the other side is struggling with their own emotions and themselves. Too much of one and the show becomes uninteresting, too much of the other and it becomes a navel-gazing drama fest.

i can't watch this series without becoming angry at some point.some good moments, marred with some really bad ones.

favorite moment in season 2, the finale. "who the F was that that just died, was the person ever in the show before now?"

I think that you're tslking about Rick's Partner, He was helping Rick's wife & kid when rick found the group outside of atlanta & was well on his way to developing a relationship with lori since they all thought rick was dead. Either that or you're talking about the kid who was with the guys that had a shootout with rick & company in the bar, but I thought they left him waayyyyy out in BFE with a knife rather than killing him outright

killing_time is almost certainly referring to Jimmy and Patricia. Even though they had been on the show for a long time (13 episodes and 12 episodes, respectively), the only time that most people noticed them is when they were killed/eaten during the escape from Herschel's farm in the S2 finale.

My problem with this series is that I don't understand why there are still zombies after all this time. They eat people, each other, horses, whatever, but eventually they gotta run out of stuff to eat. So why are there so many of them around?

In short, nobody knows exactly how/why it happened besides the fact that it did. Everyone is already an infected carrier, but it remains dormant until either death or a bite allows it to become active & take over, but rick doesn't learn it till late season1 & the group until the end of S2 when someone is killed without getting bit & comes back as a walker

My problem was with the explanation by the CDC doctor what happens when one becomes a walker.

I didn't see that scene when it originally aired due to a power flicker or something & only found out about having mussed it when Rick brought it up after shane came back.

Jimmy54 They've shown the walkers eating animals they caught & such occasionally, survivors who die or get bit turn as well, the huge grouping of them to hit hershells farm is explained when they meet someone who has seen that kind of thing before much later.... But to make a long story short, and avoid spoilers, they were doing some things to attract them. The explanation is actually deceptively simple & goes along with everything you've seen from them so far

Man this show is really bad. The writing at all times was pure trash. If the author thinks that the ship was righted he is easily amused. I demand a story that makes sense. EVERYONE on the show did things that defied logic. Hell, even Shane did a few stupid things, like pouring huge amounts of gasoline on a pile of already dead zombies.

If I were one of those survivors I would have killed them myself several times over for gross stupidity and endangering everyone else. When you are a danger to yourself and others, you can't expect to be in my group, bottom line.

Show sucks, I watch to see what dumb ass shit they are going to do next. It's kinda a comedy show to me.

Man this show is really bad. The writing at all times was pure trash. If the author thinks that the ship was righted he is easily amused. I demand a story that makes sense. EVERYONE on the show did things that defied logic. Hell, even Shane did a few stupid things, like pouring huge amounts of gasoline on a pile of already dead zombies.

Maybe Shane is from the "you have to nuke them from orbit" school of thought? Dead? Let's make sure.

I enjoyed the first two seasons and was pleasantly surprised it didn't turn into a farce. The interpersonal conflicts were realistic and compelling, and the zombie aspects aren't overdone.

I had trouble suspending disbelief with the disease. In particular, it only spreads through direct contact, so the spread of infection should have been easily controllable. I found it hard to imagine that the USA military couldn't massacre a bunch of zombies in time, given a disease whose virulence is less than smallpox.

I used to wonder the same thing until I read World War Z. It has the best explanation for how a runaway zombie infection - once established to any degree - would be almost impossible to stop without dedicated, specialised preparation.

Another more real world illustration was the London riots. They took days and days to get under control, and that was a relative few people vandalising property.

My problem with this series is that I don't understand why there are still zombies after all this time. They eat people, each other, horses, whatever, but eventually they gotta run out of stuff to eat. So why are there so many of them around?

As long as you're capable of ignoring the laws of thermodynamics then it makes sense - they don't need to eat, they just do. These zombies will basically last forever, or so long that it's meaningless in the context of a human life.

killing_time is almost certainly referring to Jimmy and Patricia. Even though they had been on the show for a long time (13 episodes and 12 episodes, respectively), the only time that most people noticed them is when they were killed/eaten during the escape from Herschel's farm in the S2 finale.

yeah the background people on the farm, the ones they took out target practicing when ammo was scarce.